Pingyao: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Pingyao is the best-preserved walled town in China, a grid of Ming and Qing streets inside walls built in 1370. In the nineteenth century its merchants ran the draft banks that moved the silver of all China, and when the banks collapsed the town was too poor to rebuild, so it survived. A World Heritage site since 1997. China requires a visa; check the rules for Israeli passports. A combined ticket covers most sites; half a day.

A short history of Pingyao

The walls of Pingyao, about six kilometres long, were built in 1370, at the start of the Ming dynasty, and still stand almost intact. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city was the financial centre of China: in 1823 the Rishengchang bank opened here, the first in China to issue drafts that could be cashed in other cities, and dozens of banks followed it in the city. When modern banking pushed them out, the city was forgotten and grew poor, and so it was not demolished. In 1997 it was declared a World Heritage Site.

The ten best sights in Pingyao

1
City Tower
The tower over South Street
2
Rishengchang
China’s first draft bank, 1823
3
Weitaihou
A rival bank across the street
4
Escort Bureau Museum
The armed guards of the silver
5
County Yamen
The magistrate’s court and offices
6
Nine Dragon Screen
A glazed spirit wall
7
Confucius Temple
A hall of 1163
8
City God Temple
Temples of the god, the kitchen and wealth
9
Qingxu Temple
A Taoist temple of the Tang
10
Yingxun Gate
The south gate, the turtle’s head

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What is an audio walk?

Tours in Pingyao →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Pingyao:

Free walking tours in Pingyao

The bankers’ town

City Tower · A tower about eighteen metres high straddling South Street at the centre of town, from which the grey tiled roofs and courtyards stretch out to the walls on every side.
Rishengchang · Founded in 1823 by a dye merchant tired of shipping silver under guard, it was the first piaohao, a bank that issued drafts payable in any of its branches. Its drafts used secret codes against forgery, and within decades Pingyao banks had branches across China and as far as Japan and Russia.
Weitaihou · A rival bank founded by a manager who left Rishengchang after a quarrel, taking clients with him — the start of a fierce competition on one short street, which became known as China’s first Wall Street.
Escort Bureau Museum · Before the banks, silver travelled with biaoju, companies of armed escorts trained in martial arts who guarded caravans on the roads. The museum shows their weapons, courtyards and the flags that bandits learned to fear.
County Yamen · The magistrate’s offices, court and prison, one of the best-preserved county yamen in China, where reenactments of trials are performed for visitors.
South Street · The old high street of shops and banks under carved wooden eaves and red lanterns. In September the town hosts an international photography festival, held since 2001 in old factories outside the walls.

Walls and temples

The walls and the temples of the eastern half show the town’s plan and its gods. Half a day; walk part of the wall at sunset.

Yingxun Gate · The town is laid out as a turtle, symbol of long life: the south gate is its head, the north gate its tail, and the four side gates its legs. The walls, about six kilometres around, carry seventy-two watchtowers and some three thousand battlements, for the seventy-two disciples and three thousand students of Confucius.
Confucius Temple · Its Dacheng Hall, built in 1163 under the Jin dynasty, is said to be the oldest surviving hall of any Confucian temple in China; candidates for the imperial exams came here to pray.
City God Temple · A temple of the city god, with beside it a temple of the kitchen god and one of the god of wealth — fitting for a town of bankers — under roofs of green and yellow glazed tiles.
Qingxu Temple · A Taoist temple first built in 657, under the Tang, the oldest in town, now a museum of local relics and stone inscriptions.
Nine Dragon Screen · A glazed tile wall with nine dragons standing before a former theatre, a spirit screen meant to block evil spirits, which were believed to travel only in straight lines.
Pingyao Station · The old station outside the west wall. Also outside the walls, in the evening, the immersive show Again Pingyao, opened in 2013, tells the story of a bank’s escorts who travelled to rescue a family, as the audience walks among the actors.

Temples and merchant mansions

Around Pingyao stand temples older than the town and the vast courtyard mansions of the Shanxi merchant families. A full day by car.

Shuanglin Temple · A temple of walled courtyards holding more than two thousand painted clay sculptures, mostly from the Ming dynasty, so lifelike that the guardians seem about to step down from their bases.
Zhenguo Temple · Its Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, built in 963, is one of the oldest wooden buildings in China, with painted clay figures of the same age inside.
Qiao Family Compound · A merchant family mansion of six large courtyards and some three hundred rooms, where Zhang Yimou filmed Raise the Red Lantern in 1991.
Wang Family Compound · A merchant family’s estate built over the eighteenth century on a hillside like a walled town, with over a thousand rooms and carvings on every beam and stone — nicknamed the people’s Forbidden City.
Zhangbi Castle · A fortified village on a plateau, beneath which run layers of ancient tunnels used for defence and escape, with storerooms, stables and wells cut into the loess.
Pingyao Gucheng Station · The high-speed station south-west of the walls, opened in 2014, which put this once remote town within a few hours of Beijing and Xi’an.

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Getting to Pingyao and getting around

Pingyao Gucheng Station · High-speed trains from Taiyuan, Xi’an and Beijing
Pingyao Station · The old station, a short walk from the walls

Cheap eats in Pingyao

Shanxi is the land of noodles and vinegar: daoxiao mian, knife-cut noodles shaved straight into the boiling pot; kaolaolao, oat-flour noodles rolled into a honeycomb and steamed; wantuo, a buckwheat jelly cut into strips; and Pingyao beef, salt-cured and sliced cold. Every table has a bottle of dark mature vinegar. A bowl of noodles costs about two or three dollars.

South Street · Beef shops and noodle houses
City Tower · Noodle houses around the tower
Yingxun Gate · Snacks by the south gate

Museums in Pingyao

The town’s museums are its banks, courts and escort houses, preserved in their own buildings.

Rishengchang · The first bank
County Yamen · The court
Escort Bureau Museum · The escorts

Things to do in Pingyao with kids

With children: walking the walls, trials in the old court, martial-arts escorts and tunnels under a castle.

Yingxun Gate · Up on the wall
County Yamen · The trial shows
Zhangbi Castle · The tunnels

Holy places in Pingyao

Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist temples, some older than the walls.

Shuanglin Temple · The clay figures
Zhenguo Temple · The hall of 963
Confucius Temple · The hall of 1163

Nightlife in Pingyao

Pingyao’s evenings are red lanterns on South Street, the show outside the walls and rooftop bars.

South Street · The lantern street
Pingyao Station · Again Pingyao

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Frequently asked questions about Pingyao

What is there to see in Pingyao?

The top sights in Pingyao are City Tower, Rishengchang and Weitaihou. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Pingyao?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Pingyao without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Pingyao?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Pingyao, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The bankers’ town.

How do you get to Pingyao and get around?

The main ways are Pingyao Gucheng Station and Pingyao Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Pingyao, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Pingyao that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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